TNIA prep

The marketing worked and I'm signed up for Track Night in America later this month. This will be my first on track experience, I havent even autocrossed yet.

Anyway, I did a once over on the car today just to put eyes on everything while I still have time to make changes. I found the front bumpstops are pretty sad and the rear brakes are borderline. 
It looks like the rear pads are at ~30% and the rotors are at minimum spec. For the street I would run these without thought for a while longer but for track work I'm not sure. I'm not in a place where I can throw a nice set of pads and rotors at the car so replacement will likely be RA centrics and Brembo semi metallics. But I'm not sure if it's necessary. The rules only say that the car needs to have "adequate" brakes. I have zero context to know if what I have will be okay. Any advice would be appreciated. 
If photos are helpful see below

And if anyone will be at the Fontana event come by and say hello! 
 

Edit because I have a feeling someone will ask: the fluid was changed over the summer with DOT 5.1. 

The best piece of advice I can give you is simply that this is a Track Night.  No one has stop watches out and there's no one looking for the next big racing star.

OE-equivalent brakes are fine because honestly if you feel they start to fade?  You're pushing too damned hard.  Slow down much earlier or pull into the pits for a little bit.  No one will judge you.

Go.  Have fun!  Drive as fast as you can and think about where you can go faster.  Ask lots of questions of the instructors, etc.  Have mechanical sympathy and you'll have a blast.

Are those some generic pads? I'd probably pad slap it. It might work out but be prepared to keep an eye on wear a maybe quit early if you don't want to be driving home on the backing plates. Fwiw the brakes were by far the most disappointing thing about my boxster on track, and I had probably marginally better than parts store pads on it (hawk hps - old version, not 5.0). But I was actually trying to go fast. If you're just out to have fun and get acclimated to track driving it's probably fine.

At a minimum I would throw some decent pads and rotors on it. Driving home while grinding steel on cast iron is not a fun thing. I would also flush the lines with fresh fluid even though it's been done fairly recently. Having brakes go away is a butt clenching and sheet metal bending event. A quart of fluid is cheap and Mustangs are notoriously hard on brakes. 

The bump stops I wouldn't worry about. 

This week I will be doing pads, rotors, and flush on my wife's Mustang for a mid November event. 

Resurface the rotors, new pads, new fluid.  You're going to have to do that job in the very near future, why not do it the weekend before your track day instead of the weekend after?

Have fun!

Meh, it's a track night..  Send it!

Just to be clear, I'm only half-joking.   I honestly believe if a car can't survive a track night, it's probably not safe enough to be on the street.   Those pads will be low when you get back, but remember that only ~20-30% (depending on car) of your braking is done with the rear. 

What type of car, and does it use an "e-diff?"   If so, definitely replace the pads, as an "e-diff" is just the ABS computer pulsing brakes constantly, and it is really hard on them. 

If you don't have an e-diff, then send it.  You'll be fine.

I've gone exactly once, so grain of salt and all. I took my newtome 15 y/o Z4 (with an electronic diff) to the track on some back pads that the dealer had said needed replacing and nothing bad came of it. My experience at Heartland Park was 3 rounds of 20 intense minutes each. The brakes were still fine afterward. If you think it's fine for the street it's probably going to be fine for the TNIA. 

NOW if I can offer some real advice in order to maximize your fun: at first it may be hard to really push your car, because it is your car. It is your daily driver, I imagine, and even if you think you drive hard on the street, you will discover that you have been nowhere near pushing its limits because it is your car and you don't want to break it. You have to drive it like a rental car, drive it like a car that is not yours, that you do not care about. Brake later and way harder than you normally ever would. Think panic braking. If you are going to be driving on street tires, get used to the fact that they are going to squeal pretty much the whole time. I am not a good driver or anything but once I got used to the squeal and the fact that I could slide it while still maintaining some intended directional result, I had a whole lot more fun. 

hopefully someone else will chime in if I'm giving really bad advice. 
oh yeah also it's not drag racing so fill up the tank-- you'll use way more gas than you expect. 
AND if I can add one more unsolicited thing: turn off your traction control. A guy there was having no fun at all in his 400hp AMG because TC kept killing his power. And he was afraid to turn it off because otherwise he was afraid he'd spin. Turn of TC and learn to control your throttle. 
 

okay one more thing: if you have an auto, try driving it in manumatic mode until the event. I suffered a lot of near loss of control out of corners because I'd stomp on the gas and get sudden downshifting; if I'd preselected the right gear while still in the middle of the corner I could have been a lot more smooth. 
 

Okay all done

Tyler H (Forum Supporter) said:

Resurface the rotors, new pads, new fluid.  You're going to have to do that job in the very new future, why not do it the weekend before your track day instead of the weekend after?

Have fun!

THIS!!

Or I could change it to "instead of the weekend after you stuff your car into the wall".  Just a thought.

I would replace them.  Track days are not the place to be deferring maintenance, if the car breaks at the track then at the very least you're going home early having wasted half of the money you paid for track time.  You may be looking for a tow truck and if it's brakes you're deferring then you may be looking for a body shop.  (Hopefully the ambulance isn't involved.)

The amount of brake usage at track days varies widely depending on a lot of factors.  The track, the car, the driver, they all matter, so going off someone else's recommendation isn't a great idea unless they know those specifics.

That said, some high-level points are that usually novice drivers are relatively easy on the brakes and that most cars hardly use the rear brakes at all.  On the other hand, Porsches are not "most cars" and the rear weight bias makes the rear brakes a lot more effective (and thus higher wear) than front-engined cars.  Also, as Wonko said, the "driver nannies" (traction control, stability control) mostly work by activating the brakes at one corner so driving the track with "nannies" on will significantly increase the amount of brake wear.

What track is "Fontana"?  Is that Auto Club Speedway, the roval near LA?  That track has a lot of concrete walls, it is not friendly to going off.

So rear pads on a Boxster are only good for 3 track events?  3 x 30% = 90%, this is what we are saying?

If it were my car I'd run it as is. Worst case stuff a new (cheap) set of pads on it.

As pointed out there are walls at the track edge at Fontana and a cautious approach (easier on brakes) is advised regardless.

Tom1200 said:

So rear pads on a Boxster are only good for 3 track events?  3 x 30% = 90%, this is what we are saying?

Keep in mind that pads don't wear at a constant rate, as they get smaller there's less material to sink the heat so they go to higher temperatures with the same amount of braking.

While you might last enough to finish if you're gentle on the brakes there are some tracks where good brakes are a must. 
  Look at the track layout.  If there are sharp corners after long straights don't risk it,  do it right. 
   If all the corners are sweepers with gradual entry  maybe, just maybe you'll survive on those pads but need to replace them Monday. 

Good fresh brake fluid at a minimum, but I'm in the camp of throw some decent dual-purpose pads and rotors as well.  Your current pads might be fine, but I have more fun when I'm not worried about my hardware.  I've used Hawk HP+ at track days with no problems, but there are other options of course.  Centric blanks are cheap (for my cars at least). 

As some have gathered the car is an 01 Boxster base. Non PASM (it doesn't need it lol). AFAIK they are OE or OE equivalent pads. The fronts were changed not too long before I got the car and at least the rotors are OE so I assume the pads are too. 

Yes Auto Club Speedway. The concrete walls is a good point, this setup is infield only which may or may not change things. 
 

I would say I can be fairly aggressive on the street but I never go 10/10ths so really I have no idea where my abilities lie. I do have a lot of mechanical sympathy, maybe too much and this is my daily driver so I don't expect to try and kill it. That said once I start seeing red it's hard to hold back. 
 

Thanks for the input everyone, it looks like a split so I'm not sure what I'm going to do but I'll keep it all in mind. The best compromise might be to throw on some "meh" pads to have some wiggle room and change out everything when funds are available. 

IMO, if you're buying pads, buy the right pads once. If you can't afford to do it right the first time, make do with what you have. Putting different bad parts on it now knowing you're going to upgrade later is the worst of both worlds.

In reply to codrus (Forum Supporter) :

Yes I'm aware the temps are likely to be higher but the car isn't likely to wear out the pads in 25-30 laps. I also don't think they are thick enough (from the pic) that we are talking about enough extra heat to be an issue.

As Spandak has pointed it out; it's infield ony so the brakes aren't going to be taking the monumental beating that they would if they were using the full banking. If they were only the full banking I'd have a different attitude.

First track day ever - even before autoX? Since you just did fluid recently I'd probably just do a sanity bleed of the brakes if you have extra fluid and send it. You'll be fine. I've been to a lot of track events and true novices rarely push the envelope for many consecutive laps. The point-by rules alone keep you, even if you're a prodigy, from hammering the car consecutively usually. If you find yourself just smashing the limits of the hardware (verrrrry rare in novice), I'd just check on them between sessions. Ezpz. 

accordionfolder said:

First track day ever - even before autoX? Since you just did fluid recently I'd probably just do a sanity bleed of the brakes if you have extra fluid and send it. You'll be fine. I've been to a lot of track events and true novices rarely push the envelope for many consecutive laps. The point-by rules alone keep you, even if you're a prodigy, from hammering the car consecutively usually. If you find yourself just smashing the limits of the hardware (verrrrry rare in novice), I'd just check on them between sessions. Ezpz. 

^  This.

The reality is that Novice will be out there for the first few laps under yellow anyway, and then you'll be constantly bouncing between trains to get a few good clean laps.   In the novice group, if you get 20 clean (full speed) laps in a 3 session day, that'd be mighty impressive.  If you get a clean lap or two, you'll be back up in traffic and have to slow down anyway.

Don't overthink it :)

If it were my student's car, I'd have them pull the wheels and inspect the pads at lunch time (i.e., after 3 sessions). 

Thank you everyone! 
Anything tool wise I should bring? I was planning on a flashlight, my portable compressor and a torque wrench. I can't imagine needing anything past that but I like to be prepared

That plus water and some snacks and you should be good to go.

TNIA = three 20 minute sessions, and it's cool this time of year.  Porsche OE pads tend to hold up pretty well at the track unless really wailing on them.  Novice group, you'll be fine.  If you decide to stick with it, use the winter to completely refresh the brakes.  If you get rotors and pads from FCPEuro, you'll never have to pay for them again; just send them back for replacements when they wear out.

Re: other stuff to bring, a tire pressure guage is pretty important.  Learn how to read your tires and figure out when they need more/less air.

I'm assuming helmet is already a given. Make sure it's up to date. I borrowed two newish motorcycle helmets just in case and only one was acceptable. 

ShinnyGroove (Forum Supporter) said:

TNIA = three 20 minute sessions, and it's cool this time of year.  Porsche OE pads tend to hold up pretty well at the track unless really wailing on them.  Novice group, you'll be fine.  If you decide to stick with it, use the winter to completely refresh the brakes.  If you get rotors and pads from FCPEuro, you'll never have to pay for them again; just send them back for replacements when they wear out.

What? I must know more. 

In reply to P3PPY :

Lifetime guarantee; check out their website.  I can't say enough good things about them, it makes German auto ownership almost seem like a reasonable/economical idea.

spandak said:

Thank you everyone! 
Anything tool wise I should bring? I was planning on a flashlight, my portable compressor and a torque wrench. I can't imagine needing anything past that but I like to be prepared

Here's some definitely overkill checklists for a DD-type car, but you can use it to brain storm a bit. 
https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/share-your-track-day-check-list/151750/page1/